Art Valet: Women of Winter Street Art Exhibition

Last summer I introduced you to portrait artist Rhonda Lanclos, who maintains an art studio at Winter Street Studios. She spearheaded a multi-artist “face-off” where portrait artists lightheartedly competed by painting portraits of live subjects.

Winter Street Studios is the oldest of the art studios on the Sawyer Yards Creative Campus, that is now one of the largest creative communities. More than 300 artists occupy five buildings now.

Lanclos sees great ideas, inquires about them and suddenly finds herself “volunteered!”That’s OK, she’s pulling it off spectacularly, and she’s done it again.

I asked Lanclos what inspired her to do this show and few of the participants what their thoughts were, too.

“I was inspired by the number of women in the building,” Lanclos said. “Instead of an Ah-Ha moment, I had a Wow moment! And the show name was born: Women of Winter Street.”

Lanclos got an overwhelmingly positive response to participate after sending out an email to her neighbors. The collaborative effort will feature over sixty works of art in ceramics, sculpture, painting, drawing and photography.

Lanclos invited her friend and former teacher Hagit Barkai to curate.

Chris Silkwood is a mosaic artist and 12 year resident at Winter Street Studios (WSS). Her studio is on the walkway that faces Winter Street, and her roll-up door is almost always open as she works on her latest masterpiece.

“Winter Street Studios is the only building within Sawyer Yards where all tenants are working studio artists,” Silkwood said. ”Our other buildings include galleries, studio artists, performance art and other creative interests. I’ve always loved the ‘raw’ environment of WSS and you truly feel the industrial vibe of the building.”

“The show is special because of Rhonda Lanclos, she decided to bring the women of WSS together for a fabulous presentation of very diverse art pieces,” Silkwood said.

“I have been at Winter Street less than two years but love every minute of it!” Spears said. “The number of quality artists around me is incredibly inspiring as an artist but the part I love the best is that almost all of the artists take the time to stop, talk and exchange information. I simply can’t get that experience working alone and it is invaluable; It really is like a big family!”

April Murphy is known for her whimsical animal paintings and has had several spaces in Winter, and now is downstairs in 3B.

“I love WS so much,” Murphy said. “It has so many working studios, meaning people come every day and create art; more grit, less showroom. I love that because we can pop in on each other, give feedback, share artsy thoughts and inspire each other.”

Being inspired by other artists in a working studio seems to be a theme here, as Paula Hawkins told me in an email.

“… being around such amazing artists is inspirational and ups my game,”Hawkins said. Her abstracted paintings are inspired by her interest in science, art, nature and quantum physics.

Lanclos has a podcast called Artists of Houston and interviews artists from Sawyer Yards (and elsewhere I hear). Find her in studio 18 at Winter Street and http://artistsofhouston.com.

Women of Winter Street Art Exhibition (WOW), Friday, January 12, 6 – 9 p.m., in the gallery space upstairs at 2101 Winter St. 77007. The art will be on view Saturday during open studios 12 – 5 p.m.

Artist April Murphy encourages guests to pose with their best scary movie face in front of her painting titled “Muttinet at the Mewvies,” the 48×72 acrylic on canvas is the largest she’s painted to date.